Joe Corré is an environmental campaigner and critic of fracking.
Photograph: REX/Shutterstock

An environmental campaigner is challenging the legality of a wide-ranging injunction obtained against protesters by a multinational firm that he criticised as being “draconian, anti-democratic and oppressive”.

Joe Corré accused petrochemical giant Ineos of using “disgusting bully boy tactics” against campaigners who want to protest against the firm’s fracking operations.

He has submitted an application in the high court objecting to the injunction. A hearing is due to be held on Tuesday to dismiss the injunction.

The temporary injunction was granted by a high court judge in July after an unannounced hearing which gave protesters no opportunity to object at the time.

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Ineos secured the injunction after submitting evidence to the court that it says was “extensive and convincing” and showed that unlawful protests were “both imminent and real”.

Campaigners have said the injunction curbs their right to democratic, peaceful protest – an accusation denied by Ineos.

The injunction specifically forbids two tactics used by protesters. One of them is known as “slow walking” in which campaigners delay deliveries to sites by walking slowly in front of lorries. The other is attaching themselves to, for example, lorries with locks.

Protesters who unsuccessfully contest the injunction would be at risk of a sizeable legal bill as they may have pay for the cost of all the lawyers at any hearing.

But on Thursday Corré, the son of fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, announced that he would step forward and challenge what he called an unprecedented injunction.

Corré, who has been campaigning against fracking for six years, said: “Someone has to stand up against these disgusting bully boy tactics. They are trying to poison us and buy the British law”.

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“Rather than rely on existing laws for prosecuting protesters when brached, Ineos’s injunction has added extra legal snares to prevent legitimate protest activities and paralyse protesters by threats of imprisonment and economically through prohibitive costs orders.”

Ineos, founded by billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, has obtained the injunction before it has won planning permission to start drilling at any UK site. In July, Tom Pickering, its operations director, said: “We have a duty to do all we can to ensure the safety of everyone on and around our sites, including the protesters themselves. We are also clear that our people and suppliers have the right to come to work free from harassment and intimidation”.

Ineos said the injunction was “right and responsible” following a recent escalation in protests against fracking.

The multinational claims that “militant activists have a long history of intimidation, threats and dangerous direct action” against the fracking industry, which put themselves and others at risk.